JFK viewpoint

July 4 reading

Worth reading again today. . .

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

To read the entire document click here. 

Sam Rayburn

This is well worth your time. 

Don't fail us today...

The transfer of power, the continual "adjustment" of leadership and approach, even philosophy across the American political landscape amazes me every election day. How privileged we are to possess the right, the obligation to express our views by ballot.

The sometimes brutal, often unfair and inaccurate claims and counter-claims of election campaigns have always been a part of the political process in the United States. While in graduate school, I read scores of newspapers from across the nation dated in the 1830s. The hatred, the tactics, the tone all combined to make for bitter races from state houses to the White House! Like it or not, this combative spirit has been a part of the process from the beginning.

The tone, tactics or tiresome tools of political races must not deter us.

Today is election day!

Today we have the final say, at least until the next time we're asked to vote!

Don't take this amazing right for granted. Unless you've voted early, don't neglect the gift of your freedom.

Don't walk away from the obligation of liberty!

Secession

Texas Governor Rick Perry got everyone fired up last week at a tax day "tea party." You can read The Dallas Morning News report on the event and the Governor's involvement in it here.

Talk about something that makes you go "hmmmm"?

The last time a state leader talked about secession was right before the Civil War when South Carolina took steps to lead the entire South out of the Union. The breach in the fabric of the Republic that followed in 1861 had been preceded in 1832 by the so-called Nullification Crisis, a conflict based largely on differences of opinion about federal protective tariffs and economic policy at the time, with a obvious connection to the institution of slavery.

I'm wondering how this talk of and sympathy for secession as a state fits into any guidelines for "how to be patriotic" as citizens at the beginning of the 21st century?

It also seems most curious, but possibly not so outlandish on second thought, when one considers how the State of Texas ranks on "quality of life" issues for those at the bottom of the economy.

I understand that Jay Leno had some fun at our Governor's expense last week (watch the monologue here). No doubt a sure sign that Mr. Perry has made the "big time" on the national political stage!

Ain't politics something?





This post is dedicated to the memory of Morris Franklin James (April 24, 1920-December 16, 2007). We love you, daddy. Rest in peace.

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Things that make you go hmmmm. . .

Did you catch Rep. Betty Brown's suggestion during the Elections Committee hearing in the Texas House of Representatives last week?

When confronted with witness testimony on the problems Chinese-American Texans currently face at the polls and the increased difficulties they could expect to encounter under a voter ID law now being debated, Rep. Brown said, "Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese - I understand it's a rather difficult language - do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?"

Media outlets across the country have picked up on this story, Asian American groups have spoken out against her and still, Rep. Brown continues to stand by her statement.

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Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish quotes from the U. S. Senate ratified Treaty of Tripoli (1796-1797).

Interesting stuff.

Here are a few lines from Article 11 of the treaty:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Check out Sullivan's post here.

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Quote without comment: It is important for you to control your own drawbridge. There must be times when you keep your bridge drawn and have the opportunity to be alone or only with those to whom you feel close. Never allow yourself to become public property, where anyone can walk in and out at will. You might think that you are being generous in giving access to anyone who wants to enter or leave, but you will soon find yourself losing your soul. - Henri Nouwen (as posted by my good friend, Mike Cope)

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The Election. . .

A few impressions, comments, surprises, etc., etc., etc., regarding the current campaign for President (I'm seriously wondering who in their right mind would want this job---hmmmm, may be an important insight buried in there somewhere):

Think this campaign season has turned negative and bitter (no pun intended, Senator Obama!)? You would have loved the election of 1800 that set Thomas Jefferson against the incumbent John Adams. The Federalists attacked Jefferson unmercifully, branding him a Jacobin and an atheist. His election, critics warned, would bring "dwellings in flames, hoary hairs bathed in blood, female chastity violated. . .children writhing on the pike and halberd" (George Brown Tindall, America: A Narrative History, page 324). Jefferson won.

Monday, April 21, 2008 will go down as a very different day in the life and history of Selma, Alabama. Republican Presidential nominee, Senator John McCain became the very first Republican candidate for the nation's highest office to visit the city ever. McCain made a speech at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Surprises everywhere. I applaud McCain for his trip to Selma. Nice move.

Even worse than the Jefferson-Adams struggle of 1800, just read some of the campaign rhetoric during the days of Andrew Jackson! Old Hickory had his detractors for sure. I remember doing research while in graduate school at Tulane University that set me reading newspapers from the 1820s and 1830s. The editorial comments made the current news of the political day sound like a Sunday School picnic. Face it: Americans have always fought dirty when it come to politics!

Anyone have other rough and tumble political campaign stories to share?

Took care of it early. . .

Anticipating a crazy day next Tuesday, Brenda and I voted yesterday.

Something about voting always excites me, no matter how many times I enter the voting booth.

I suppose I remain naive and optimistic enough to believe that it all matters. I know for sure that the sort of freedom we enjoy here did not come easy or on the cheap.

The early voting location nearest us is in Fair Park at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. The lines were long and the campaign workers abundant!

I have to admit, I love the process.

If you haven't cast your vote, I hope you will. If you have, either in Texas or somewhere else, thanks for taking the time to invest your opinion in an extremely important process for our national life.

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The candidates and poverty

With the Iowa caucuses today, the New Hampshire primary only days away and the rest of the Presidential campaign unfolding rapidly, you may want to review the candidates' positions on poverty and opportunity at http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/.

On this non-partisan site, you can also find exclusive commentary by national leaders, recent reports, analyses and data.

Please forward this information to your network and remember to check out http://www.spotlightonpoverty.com/ for links to the latest research, data, and organizations working on poverty and opportunity.

Sign up to receive more updates from Spotlight here.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is an initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Eos Foundation, and other major national foundations.

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ABC News: Children, Families and Health Care--Part 3 and last night's debate

Facing the reality of 9,000,000 uninsured children in the United States turns out to be sobering work.

Take a look at this report by ABC News:

"Red Tape and Bureaucracy in Health Care" (June 10) http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3264531.

We must do better.

[As in previous segments of this series, please tolerate the commercial message at the beginning of the report.]

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Don't know about you, but I found last night's Presidential debate on CNN among the Democratic candidates using the YouTube question format to be interesting and refreshing compared to previous debates. Ordinary folks asking the questions that concerned them.

Opinion: there would have been many more questions on the Iraq War if the U. S. "recruited" its soldiers from a national draft. Funny how current, pressing self-interest shapes our primary concerns, huh? I find it to be the same with the issues associated with poverty, like the video above.

What do you think?


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YouTube Presidential Debates

CNN has come up with a new to-the-people format for two coming Presidential debates.

On next Monday, July 23, Democratic candidates for President will engage in what will undoubtedly be a very lively debate. Questions will come directly from people all across the nation via the interesting media provided by YouTube!

Ordinary people post their questions with all the charm, particularity, creativity and passion that YouTube video can deliver.


Questions will cover all the hot and, possibly, not so hot topics of the day: Iraq, health care, Katrina, international relief, religion, civil liberties and rights, gay marriage, abortion, Israel, Darfur and many others.

Truth be known, I bet these candidates hate this form of debate! Talk about no ability to control the discussion. Likely just what we need.

Here's what CNN had up on its website last weeek:

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Get your first glimpse at some of the YouTube submissions for July’s CNN-YouTube Democratic presidential debate – the first in history to be driven by user-generated video questions.

Click here to view the latest submissions and add yours.

CNN and YouTube’s live forum will feature video questions submitted to YouTube and answered by Democratic and Republican candidates live on CNN. CNN’s Anderson Cooper will moderate the two two-hour debates and pose follow-up questions.

The Democratic debate, the first Democratic National Committee-sanctioned presidential forum of the 2008 election cycle, will be held at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday, July 23, at and will air live on CNN. The Republican presidential forum hosted by CNN and YouTube will take place on Monday, Sept 17, in Florida.

Questions for the Democratic Debate can be submitted until July 22.

It will be much like a national town hall meeting of sorts. Very interesting format for people just like you and me and many of our friends.

What do you think about it? I'd love to hear your reaction.

It is still not too late to get your question in!

So, what did you think?

Did you watch the "debate" earlier this evening (Monday) organized by Jim Wallis and Sojourners and hosted by CNN?

As I asked in my post early this morning, if you watched, what did you think? I'd like your impressions of the first hour and then, for those who continued to watch, the next hour of interviews with the other major Democratic candidates.

The subject was politics, faith and poverty.

Let us hear what you thought!

CNN Tonight at 6:00 P. M. (CST): Faith and Values

Concerned about faith, values and poverty as we move toward the next national election in 2008?

You may want to tune in to CNN at 6:00 P. M. (CST) this evening for a special "Presidential Forum on Faith, Values, and Poverty," to be hosted by Soledad O'Brien.

Broadcasting live from George Washington University, the forum will involve the three leading Democratic candidates for President, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama. The forum will take place during Sojourners' annual Pentecost 2007 conference.

I am very pleased that the event will focus the candidates and the entire process on the poor and the challenges they face in our nation today.

The candidates will be questioned by five religious leaders, including

• General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Sharon E. Watkins,


• Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal


• Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York


• Suzan Johnson Cook, senior pastor at Believers' Christian Fellowship in New York City


• Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, Fla.

The hour-long forum will be a first-of-its-kind special edition of the "Situation Room."

The special forum has been organized by Sojourners and Call to Renewal. A similiar forum is set for the Republican candidates for President in September 2007.

For more details on the broadcast, go to:

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=action.P07&item=
pentecost07_candidates_forum.

I hope you'll tune in this evening. If you do, please let me know your impressions.

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Race baiting. . .the remaining cancer of the nation

Don Imus is long gone.

Maybe Rush Limbaugh should follow him.

Somehow, I doubt that happens.

Take a look at the following link:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/50998/.

Limbaugh played this audio stream on his radio program numerous times over the past several days.

Poking fun at African American political leaders, while demeaning the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, the song's fundamental basis, intent and spirit remains thoroughly racist. The issue here has nothing to do with partisan politics, at least not to me.

Will our nation ever move beyond such hateful evil?

I am drawn to a passage from Dean Koontz's novel, Brother Odd:

"In this world where too many are willing to see only the light that is visible, never the Light Invisible, we have a daily darkness that is night, and we encounter another darkness from time to time that is death, the deaths of those we love, but the third and most constant darkness that is with us every day, at all hours of every day, is the darkness of the mind, the pettiness and meanness and hatred, which we have invited into ourselves, and which we pay out with generous interest" (page 149).

Poverty and the next Mayor of Dallas, Texas

If you live in Dallas, you are very aware that we are in the midst of a hotly contested race for the Mayor's office. The official ballot was set earlier this week with 13 candidates for us to choose from! Someone quipped that everyone not running for President of the United States is now running for mayor of Dallas.

Question: If you live here and have been listening, how much have you heard from the candidates about the challenges facing our low-income citizens?

Have you heard any candidate place the issues associated with poverty at the front and center of his campaign?

Well, this year at our 12th Annual Urban Ministries Prayer Breakfast, Central Dallas Ministries will host what we are calling "Forum for the Future."

We have invited the top seven mayoral candidates to join us to answer questions related to our agenda, with a special focus on poverty and the low-income neighborhoods of Dallas.

We will also be hearing from the community and our guests. Then, we will spend time in prayer for our city and its people.

It promises to be quite a morning!

Learn more by visiting our event info site at: http://www.centraldallasministries.org/prayer/.

I hope you will join us.

Voting as Lotto

Low-income workers and minorities vote in much lower numbers than higher paid, white citizens. People who are working hard to make ends meet and pay the bills often don't find their way to the polls on election days.

Beyond this, there is a cynicism among the poor about the viability and efficacy of the entire political process. A "what difference will my vote make?" attitude seems more prevalent among lower wage earners than among those who earn more for their work.

In Dallas it is certainly true that persons living in lower income neighborhoods don't turn out to vote like people who reside in more upscale parts of our city. I know that is true in my state house district. People living west of Central Expressway in the Park Cities part of our district vote at a 75 to 90% clip in every election. On my side of the district we do good to turn out 40% in even the most active precincts.

Now comes Mark Osterloh with one of the "bright ideas" for 2006, at least as determined by the annual review conducted by The New York Times Magazine (Rebecca Skloot, page 34, December 10, 2006).

Here's how his idea would work.

Each person who casts a vote would also be entered into a special state lottery in Osterloh's home state, Arizona. At the conclusion of each state election one person would be selected to win $1 million. The payout would come from the state's unclaimed lottery fund.

The odds are interesting when compared to other state and regional games of chance. If 2 million Arizonans vote, as they did in 2004, in the next national election, the odds of winning would be 1 in 2 million, as compared to 1 in 146 million for recent Powerball games!

With what remained in the unclaimed gaming fund, Osterloh would award 1,700 prizes of $1,000 each. Such a move increases the odds of winning something to 1 in 2,500.

Osterloh believes that odds like these, especially for low-income workers, would increase voter turnout, while costing voters nothing.

Critics say that the idea "degrades democracy."

Osterloh is amused.

"Excuse me?" he says. "Getting all those people to vote will degrade democracy? Isn't that the definition of democracy?"

Osterloh is so serious about his idea that he got it on the ballot in Arizona last November.

Voters didn't approve it.

As the Times Magazine notes, "It is quite possible. . .that his target audience didn't show up to vote."

What do you think?

Organizing for change. . .

Antonio Gramsci, writing after World War I, describes the effects of the war on Russia and its people.

"Selfish, individual instincts were blunted; a common, united spirit was fashioned; feelings were universalized; the habit of social discipline was formed. The peasants came to see the state in all its complex grandeur, it measureless power, its intricate construction. They came to see the world no longer as something infinitely vast like the universe and as circumscribed and small as the village bell-tower, but as a concrete reality consisting of states and peoples, social strengths and weaknesses, armies and machines, wealth and poverty. Links of solidarity were forged which would have taken decades of historical experience and intermittent struggles to form. Within four years, in the mud and blood of the trenches, a spiritual world emerged that was avid to form itself into permanent and dynamic social structures and institutions." (A Gramsci Reader, page 115)

Gramsci's description of the impact of the trauma of a world war on poor workers and farmers in Russia helps explain how the people managed to come together quickly to form an entirely new political worldview and social framework for such a vast nation. The exploitation and violence of the oppressive regimes of Lenin and Stalin intervened to thwart what might have been created had it been allowed to go forward in more equitable and just ways.

The interesting point here for me is the effect of shared pain on human communities, especially on communities of common interest and experience. Clearly, the pain caused by the war and the preceding stark realities of deep poverty, extreme class disparities, disease and death created a social movement among common, very poor people.

My grandfather once told me that "you can't organize farmers." I expect he should have known. He and my dad were West Texas cotton farmers for decades. The promise and/or availability of continuing credit, no matter how bad the terms, combined with the prospects of a "better crop on the place next year," almost always blocked efforts at collective action or marketing among independent producers.

The same sort of dynamic seems to hold true here in Dallas and across the nation among poor folks, though in an even more hopeless context. It is very hard to organize people at the very bottom of the economic ladder for any sort of collective effort to bring about change or social improvement.

So much energy is expended on simply "getting by" that very few have time or resources to spare on getting together to promote change, reform or better opportunities for themselves as a group.

Mix in healthy doses of a religious fervor that continually points people away from the harsh realities of this world and on toward the next and you take away even more motivation to come together to demand changes and reform for the here and now.

Others turn to narcotics, alcohol or other abusive addictions, including unchecked sexual avarice, to deal with the pain and discouragement associated with poverty and economic failure. The "quick fix" options often crowd out the longer term requirements of community activism and organizing.

Then, there is the extremely resilient power of the persistent social and cultural notion that boasts "anyone who will work hard and follow the rules can make it in this country." Like my grandfather's friends, this takes us back to the power of the motivated individual rather than the promise of the organized group. This social myth leads people to act, vote and behave in ways that often work against their own best self-interest.

Still, Gramsci teaches me that if the pain is severe enough and the crisis deep enough, people will come together to work for better lives for everyone who shares in and understands the difficulties of poverty and the consequences following from the absence of real, widespread opportunities.

Call me naive, but I find at least a glimmer of hope in this promise. Maybe things will have to get worse in our inner cities before they actually get much better.

Les Miserables

“There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.”

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

[Quoted on the cover of the program of the play presented by the School of Performing Arts at Garland High School, Garland, Texas February 7-10, 2007]

Joe Biden and a "clean" African American candidate

The United States has never enjoyed the leadership of an African American President, not because there have been no qualified African Americans, but because of our society's prevailing racist assumptions.

On the very day that he was kicking off his own run for the White House, Senator Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-Delaware) stumbled badly. Speaking of Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and his potential candidacy for President and his prospects of being the first African American to hold the office, Biden told reporters that Obama was, "the first mainstream, African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy."

I have no idea what Mr. Biden meant. I do know where he was coming from, and that scene is not all goodness and light.

It is true that Senator Obama, elected by a wide cross section of Illinois voters to the U. S. Senate with a large majority, rises from the mainstream of the American political process. Thankfully, his emergence is a sign of improving racial attitudes in the nation. Previous African American Presidential candidates have stepped forward from the margins of our political process. (Although, Jesse Jackson won my precinct caucus vote in the 1984 Democratic Primary when we lived in Richardson, Texas!)

Where Biden slipped up, and actually revealed an insight into the struggling soul of the nation, was in the remainder of his statement.

Articulate.

Bright.

Clean.

Nice looking.

Did he mean or imply that no candidate before Obama possessed any of these characteristics? In his apologies that went on the rest of the day on Wednesday, he seemed to deny that he meant his words to be taken in that way. I have no doubt that he didn't mean for us to take his statement this way, but what informed his observation in the first place?:

Actually, Biden may have done us all a great service. In fact, Senator Obama's almost instant popularity may be a reflection of the same beliefs and ideas that Senator Biden expressed yesterday without much thought.

Over the course of our history, countless African Americans have possessed the qualities necessary to serve as effective leaders of this nation. Unfortunately, the expressed and unexpressed biases of our national community have stood squarely in the way.

As we move toward the 2008 election, it seems more than realistic to think that we may finally elect a black President.

Ironically, if we do, for many people like Mr. Biden it may be because this particular African American is "acceptable" as judged by traditional, and largely mythical, white standards and categories.

Race matters in this nation. Race and racism are still very large issues.